Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of horseback riding equipment. More particularly, the present invention is in the field of systems for use in horseback riding that include stirrups which horseback riders contact with their feet.
Description of the Related Art
The contemporary conventional horseback-riding system includes a saddle attached to the horse by means of a girth strap and stirrups which hang from the saddle by means of straps called stirrup leathers, although these straps may be made′out of materials other than leather. This system is the product of many centuries of design evolution, thought to have begun with a single simple leather toe-loop attached to the saddle, used by early barefoot riders to mount the horse, and culminating in the current system.
In the current conventional system, the stirrup typically consists of a rounded oblong metal loop with a flat base. The horseback rider inserts his or her foot into the stirrup and rests the sole of the foot on the upper surface of the flat base of the stirrup. The strap from which the stirrup hangs, called the stirrup leather, transfers to the saddle any downward force exerted by the sole of the rider's foot on the stirrup base.
That system, with stirrups hanging from stirrup leathers, allows the rider to rest his or her feet, to press down in order to resist downward forces, to rise from a seated position in the saddle, and to shift or distribute the rider's weight between the saddle and the rider's feet.
Because in this conventional system the stirrup hangs freely from a strap or straps attached to the saddle, that system can only directly resist force exerted downward through the rider's foot. Such a system is therefore of only limited effectiveness when a rider is subjected to upward or sideward forces, for example when the horse is in a state of upset and bolts, bucks, or rears up.
In addition, horseback riders in mounted sports such as horse-racing and polo must often maintain difficult body positions and control their horses while maneuvering at high speed. Even the most skillful of riders—jockeys and horse-jumping competitors, for example—can sometimes be subjected under these conditions to displacing forces of such magnitude that the rider is unable to avoid being thrown from the horse. And novice riders, especially when learning how to jump obstacles on horseback, are highly susceptible to being thrown from the horse and may be in danger of serious injury thereby, because the horseback riding system they use provides little or no means to resist the associated upward and transverse forces in instances of rapid acceleration or deceleration.
Related art discloses various types of proposed safety saddles and safety stirrups. Information relevant to attempts to address the problem of horseback rider safety and stability can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,735,109, 5,901,531, 6,298,640, 5,284,005, 7,225,602, 7,526,904, and 7,506,493, 7,121,068, and U.S. Application Patent Nos. 20060248863 and 20050120684. However, each of these references suffers from one or more of the disadvantages that the disclosed invention either provides no means to resist upward displacing forces, cannot flexibly be used by the rider to resist upward displacing forces while in customary riding positions, or interferes with the rider's normal ability to stand or move in the saddle or to dismount. None of these systems provide the benefits of the herein-described invention.
Hence, there is a need for a new system that a horseback rider can use to resist vertical and transverse displacing forces and maintain the rider's position on the horse under difficult conditions.